Cabinet Likely to Set up Rs. 2,000 crore Startup Fund by July

The Union Cabinet is likely to set up a Rs 2,000-crore credit guarantee fund by July-end with a view to provide funding facilities to startups as per the report by India Today.

The secretary of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), Ramesh Abhishek, said the fund would be used to lend to startups without any collateral. He said that last week, the proposal was approved by the finance ministry. Under this, Rs. 2,000 crore will be disbursed over a period of three years as per the report by The Mint.

Startups will have to meet the definition set by the DIPP to access any of the benefits announced in the Startup India Action Plan last year, including access to the loans under the credit guarantee scheme.

“One startup will get a maximum of Rs 5 crore. We are hoping to get the Cabinet approval on this by end of July to operationalise this fund,” he said during the launch of startup India hub portal.

The DIPP has put 1,000 facilitators for intellectual property (IPR) related issues besides setting of 547 tinkering labs under Atal Innovation Mission. This year, the DIPP has sought Rs. 1,600 crore more from the finance ministry.

“358 startups were facilitated for IPR, 1333 were recognized as startups, 39 startups were given income tax benefits and we are reviewing all other cases regarding this.

“These numbers are going to multiply this year as we have changed the definition of startups,” Abhishek said adding under the Fund of Funds scheme, over Rs 1,100 crore were disbursed last fiscal.